贓 meaning and stroke order
Booty, loot; stolen goods; to bribe
How to write 贓, stroke by stroke
21 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 贓
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- stolen goods; loot; spoils
How 贓 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Money.
貝 gives the meaning and 臧 hints at the sound.
Radical: 貝 (sea shell), shared by 62 characters on this site.
How to remember 贓
贓 combines 貝 (shell, an old symbol of money) with 臧 (zāng), which gives the sound. Think of it as money that sounds like zāng: cash or valuables that were taken dishonestly.
贓 (zāng) appears mostly in compounds about crime, such as 赃物 (zāngwù, stolen property) and 赃款 (zāngkuǎn, stolen money). Mainland China writes it in simplified form as 赃. Example: 警察找到了赃物。(Jǐngchá zhǎodào le zāngwù.) The police found the stolen goods.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 贓 (zāng) with 髒 (zāng, dirty). They share the same sound and both simplify toward 脏, but only 贓 with the 貝 money component means loot. Note that the simplified form of 贓 is 赃, while 髒 simplifies to 脏.
Common words with 贓
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 分贓 | fēnzāng | to share the booty; to divide ill-gotten gains | HSK 7-9 |
| 栽贓 | zāizāng | to frame sb (by planting sth on them) | |
| 贓物 | zāngwù | booty; stolen property | |
| 贓款 | zāngkuǎn | booty; stolen goods |
Questions about 贓
How many strokes are in 贓?
贓 is written with 21 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 贓 mean?
贓 (zāng) means booty, loot; stolen goods; to bribe. A common word with it is 分赃 (fēnzāng), meaning "to share the booty; to divide ill-gotten gains".
How do you pronounce 贓?
贓 is pronounced zāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 贓?
The radical of 贓 is 貝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 贓 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 贓?
贓 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 赃, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What does 栽赃 mean and how is it used?
栽赃 (zāizāng) means to frame someone by planting stolen goods or evidence on them. For example, 他被人栽赃了 (tā bèi rén zāizāng le) means "he was framed."
Can 贓 be used alone as a word?
It rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. You will almost always see it inside fixed words like 分赃 (fēnzāng, to divide the loot) or 赃款 (zāngkuǎn, stolen money).